So, Paddy M. of the Chieftains plays a full set made by none other than the late great Leo Roesome. BUT…has anyone ever heard him play the regulators?
I don’t own all the Chieftains recordings, so I don’t know if perhaps he’s played them somewhere, and I’m just out of the loop or what. Idle curiosity really. Seems a shame to have such an amazing piper, and never hear his reg. work.
B~
There are many famous pipers who aren’t very fond of regulator playing, mostly due to “historic” reasons (the regs do not really fit into the concept of Irish music; they come from a different background). So maybe Paddy shares this attitude, too. Furthermore, the regs are sometimes problematic when played in a group. Unfortunately, Paddy has never turned out a solo piping album. He was playing solo on “The drones & chanters Vol. 1”, though. While I don’t know this CD, it is most likely that, if Paddy ever uses his regs, you could hear them there.
Christian
wow, no one has posted to this for a long time, but I have a bloody lot of Chieftains stuff, and on ‘chieftains 3’ I know Paddy uses the regs for his solo opening part. (very neat tune actually). There are others too, but mostly he used them in early stuff (ie 1-5) to make chords at the end of a tune for effect.
He also used to use a flat set in C a bunch for solo stuff on these recordings, anyone know anything more about that?
Yes Paddy Moloney can play regulators, when I attended a concert in Tweeds Heads near Brisbane in New South Whales, he played regulators on a few tunes. The most memorable would have been the “March of the King of Laos” some nice little fills there as well, he also played the Damhsa (Indapendance) Hornpipe with regulator accompaniment as well.
I would like to know why some musicians choose not to use regulators and others do. One reason could be is that they are a real pain to get the microphone volumes correct in a recording session. I know it caused a lot of heartacke for me trying to get the volumes right for a recording task that I had to do. In the end I eventually got there but it took a lot of work. Anybody else had volume problems when recording regulator accompaniment?
Cheers L42B 
Interesting that this thread has been dug up… especially, since the author has met with and made a reed for with Paddy Maloney. 
I bought their first LP again as a CD (rerelease of the mono! LP) as I only had taped it from a friend. Way back then (middle 70s, sentimental reasons - very different from todays session-music) it was one of the first records that brought me in contact with Irish Music and influenced me a lot. Anyway - the CD reads:
“…This chanter is from one of the three sets of Uilleann pipes played here by Paddy; this one, which is tuned to concert pitch, was made for him by that very distinguished piper and pipe-maker Leo Rowsome , 1903-1970. The second, which we hear in the lovely tune played in the third section [air: “Cailín na Gruaige Doinnne”, Mr. Moloney plays a few reg-chords towards the end] is a ´flat set´ with quite a history. Michael Egan, a celebrated Galway pipe-maker (of the 19th century) went to America to make them for an exiled enthusiast, John Coughlan, who subsequently went to live in Australia, taking the set with him. They were brought to Ireland a few years ago and were lent by the Dublin piper, Dan O`Dowd, 1903-1989. The third set, of which we hear only the chanter, in A Dhruimfhionn Donn Dílis (The Beloved Silk of the Kine) belonged to Peadar Flynn and was made by McCrone.”
LOL Now Joe, I only tweaked a reed for Paddy, and delivered his chanter to him once upon a time. This was originally posted before I had seen them the first time I believe. Meeeeeemories… 
Swell guy though. And for the record, the next two performances I saw of the Chieftains he was going to town on the regs as I sat behind him. Amazing to watch. With as much as he was playing them, I was supprised not to hear it more prevalently in his recordings. Did I mention he was a swell guy? 
Bri~
5 nov TG4 : Se mo Laoch : Paddy Moloney
Paddy was featured on the BBC coverage of the Cambridge Folk Festival this weekend, explaining the ‘octopus’ to the presenter - he played a few bars finishing with reg chords. No weblink yet, but it may come - or at least be repeated on Beeb 4 for those lucky enough to get it!
Show also featured Cara Dillon, with James O’Grady on pipes. As well as being a fine player, he is also extraordinarily patient, as he is the one teaching me to wrestle this beasty 
Jim
Well being a big Chieftains freak, I own about 20 of their albums. And of those albums I only heard him playing the regs towards the end of the tune, and it was only for a few seconds. Two come to mind: At the end of Tiarna Maigheó on Chieftains 3 where he does it solo on the C pipes, and then again on Chieftains 5 where introduces a track with Fanny Poer on the C pipes - again at the end of the tune for only a few seconds.. As far as the Chieftains recordings go, those are the only two that I can remember hearing the regs. Maybe he does it again on 7 at the end of “The Ace and Deuce of Pipering”…
But I own the Drones And The Chanters Volume 1, and Paddy doesn’t use the regs in all 3 of his recordings on that album. Silly Paddy…